Bharat Bandh: Dalit protest death toll rises to 10

In the wake of violent protests, 16 additional companies of the SSB, four companies of the RAF, two companies of the STF, and 3,000 trainee constables have been deployed across Madhya Pradesh today.

Latest News : The Bharat Bandh called by Dalit groups protesting the apparent dilution of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) Prevention of Atrocities Act by the Supreme Court recently left at least ten people dead and hundreds injured as incidents of violence were reported across several states on Monday. Protesters were reported to have blocked trains, clashed with police, and set fire to private and public properties, including police posts. At the moment, reports say schools will remain shut in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP’s) Agra, Hapur, and Ghaziabad over the bandh. Whether schools and colleges in other states and cities, too, will stay closed is not clear yet.

Meanwhile, the Narendra Modi-led government moved the Supreme Court seeking a recall of its judgment on the SC/ST Act. While the SC declined an urgent hearing on a writ petition filed by the All India Federation of SC/ST Organisations against the verdict, the Congress demanded that the Centre bring an amendment to the said law in Parliament or file a “curative petition” in the apex court.

The government will on Tuesday mention the review petition in the top court for an early hearing.

With the Bharat Bandh protest in Madhya Pradesh (MP) claiming six lives, additional police and anti-riot forces are being deployed across the state. The Dalit protest saw curfew being imposed at several places. The Union Home Ministry, for its part, rushed 800 anti-riot policemen to MP and UP, and asked all states to take preventive steps to maintain public order and ensure the safety of lives and property. Thousands of people were detained following widespread incidents of firing, vandalism, and arson across over 10 states, several of them being BJP-ruled.

The Bharat Bandh call was supported by nearly all Opposition parties, which, along with Dalit organisations and Dalit members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies, had criticised the SC order on the SC/ST Act and asked the Centre to file a review petition. While the BJP accused Opposition parties of politicising the issue and contributing to the violence, the Opposition alleged that in several places, particularly in Agra and Gwalior, it was BJP workers who attacked protesters. The Congress, for its part, said that the Centre had taken the Bharat bandh call “lightly”, which resulted in the violence.

Stone pelting, traffic blocked: Dalit protesters bring Mumbai to a halt

Striking Indian low-caste workers bring chaos to Mumbai.

Many businesses in the Indian financial hub of Mumbai closed on Wednesday as protesters from a low-caste community blocked traffic and shopping malls and staged sit-ins on railway lines after clashes with right-wing Hindus.

The call for a general strike across the western state of Maharashtra led to largely peaceful protests, but life in many parts of Mumbai was disrupted with Dalits pelting buses with stones and deflating tyres in some areas. Railway lines and some major roads leading into the city were blocked.

The Dalits, who rank at the bottom in India’s ancient caste hierarchy, called the strike in protest against attacks from right-wing groups in the city of Pune on Monday. The strike shut businesses and schools in Mumbai and other cities across the state.
“The government didn’t arrest the perpetrators of violence in Pune. Hindu group members were beating Dalits and the police were just watching from afar,” said protester Sandeep Kamble.

“We are demanding the arrest of the culprits.” The protest came a day after thousands of Dalits hurled stones and caused traffic disruption across Mumbai. Dalits have been ostracized by upper-caste Hindus for centuries for jobs they deemed as impure, such as garbage pickers and tannery workers.

Those protests followed celebrations by Dalits in Pune, 150 km (95 miles) from Mumbai, on the 200th anniversary of a battle they won, fighting alongside British colonial forces, against an upper-caste ruler. Those celebrations were disrupted by right-wing Hindu groups and a 28-year-old man was killed in the clashes, according to the state government.

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Maharashtra caste clashes: Mumbai school buses to stay off roads today

The state government has said schools will remain open today.

School buses will stay off roads in Mumbai tomorrow in view of a Maharashtra bandh called by Dalit outfits to protest the violent clashes in Pune yesterday.

The School Bus Owners’ Association (SBOA) on Tuesday said it would not operate its fleet of 40,000 buses on Wednesday

Anil Garg, president of SBOA, told PTI, “For security reasons, we have decided not to ply our buses in the first shift today. If the situation remains peaceful, we will run the buses in the second shift.”

However, if a particular bus owner wanted to operate his services tomorrow, it would be his call, he added.

“Law-and-order is beyond our control. Therefore, we cannot take the risk,” Garg said.

The state government has said schools will remain open today.

Dalit organisations have called a Maharashtra bandh tomorrow to protest against the BJP-led state government’s “failure” to stop the violence in Pune.

Clashes between Dalit groups and supporters of right-wing Hindu organisations during the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in Pune district had left a man dead on Monday.

The clashes broke out at Bhima-Koregaon when people were headed towards the war memorial in the village, about 30 km from Pune city, the police had said.

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